VFX on TNT’s Falling Skies

Stock Footage Guide

Northeast Spotlight

VFX on TNT’s Falling Skies

Stock Footage Guide

Northeast Spotlight

May/June 2013 • V.28|No.3May/June 2013 • V.28|No.3

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • PeopleFilm • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People 2.02.0

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Old techniques, new techOld techniques, new tech

Searching the World OverFrom its base in Orem, Utah, StockFootage.com’s “group of cinematogra-

phers, colorists and VFX artists have created a unique library of stock footage,”says CEO Chris Dortch, “that encompasses breathtaking, arresting footage ofsome of the most incredible places, sights and scenes on Earth.”

It’s easy to see why the company’s artsycollection is noteworthy, as Dortch pointsout that the company’s cinematographershave acquired content “in hundreds” ofnational parks, in addition to a more recentand more daunting task: spending “severalweeks with the U.S. military shooting high-speed footage of C4 explosions, machineguns, operating shots from Chinooks, BlackHawk helicopters and many other militaryvehicles,” he said.

Getting the permissions and 100 signedmodel releases from the military was no easytask for the company, but StockFootage.comexpedited distribution by allowing its clients tolicense content, then download HD, as wellas 4K Ultra HD, footage.

Noting the cityscapes, slow-motionand time-lapse shots, Dortch explainedthat it’s all in the approach: “While Gettyand other companies are primarily newsoutlets, StockFootage.com is more of anart gallery,” he said.

Of recent note is the kickoff of the com-pany’s continued addition lensed by cine-matographers who shoot worldwide;moving ahead, Dortch says that 4K isbecoming very popular with clients such asThe Discovery Channel, the BBC and

National Geographic. “We hope to connect in a better way with our buyers,” Dortchsaid, “since we’re users of stock footage ourselves.”

Having It AllA small, independent company based in Haworth, N.J., with a vast and varied

footage collection, Global ImageWorks (GIW, www.globalimageworks.com) operateswith “the resources of a larger operation,” says President Jessica Berman-Bogdan, sincein addition to licensing, it also has an active research and clearance division.

GIW represents cinematographers, filmmakers, production companies and journal-ists in their quest to find “deep footage – meaning raw footage and not just the short

30 M a r k e e 2 . 0 | May/June 2013 Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

Stock Footage

[Above & Right]

StockFootage.com’s library includes national parks, cityscapes

and U.S. military footage.

[Bottom]

Global ImageWorks specializes in “deep footage,” or raw footage

not found elsewhere.

clips,” said Berman-Bogdan. “However, filmmakers also needto have stock shots, so we have added high-end stock shotlibraries, too.”

The house offers historic and contemporary footage of,well, virtually anything: people, culture, lifestyles, pop cul-ture, global conflict, extreme weather, aerials, et cetera. Italso represents more than 75 sources/copyright holders’special collections, such as the entire Soul Train library,which consists of 1,100 weekly episodes, specials andaward programs; an extensive West Coast hip hop collec-tion; and 200 interviews with music professionals.

Also prominent at GIW is the Omnibus TV show, hosted byBritish journalist Alistair Cooke, which delved into parts of U.S.culture, arts and science; of recent note is the company’slicensing of the 45,000 Smithsonian Folkways recordings, theLost Civilizations TV program, and The S.T.E.M. (Science, Tech-nology, Engineering, Math) Collection.

“We’ve built out our collection so it runs from historic to contemporary,” saidBerman-Bogdan, noting that GIW offers rights-managed and royalty-free footage.The company also is about to launch a new website with an e-commerce compo-nent and a more advanced search tool. That will prove handy in this diverse uni-verse, because “we’re always adding new collections,” he noted.

The Past and MoreIf history is your bag, make the acquaintance of Joe Lauro. The president of the aptly

named Historic Films (www.historicfilms.com) offers a library of about 50,000 hours ofclips, some of which are more than 100 years old.

The Greenport, N.Y.-based house offers what Lauro calls “a complete archive ofgeneral interest, lifestyle and news footage from the 1890s to the present,” with a spe-cialty of music on film. “We have the largest collection of jazz and rock ’n roll from the1920s to the present day,” he said.

That’s a bold claim, but a claim that can be made by a company exec who can offerapproximately 50,000 musical performances “of just about everyone you’ve ever heardof,” from acts that appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and Don Kirshner’s Rock Concertto Pathé Films, and various other collections. Consider, for instance, the recent additionof a teen dance show from Cleveland, Upbeat: It includes the last footage of Otis Red-ding and his band, the Bar-Kays before their plane crashed in Wisconsin, and even con-tent from the current Rolling Stones tour.

Another new collection along the entertainment theme is the FJ Library, whichconsists of premiere and red-carpet-type material. And Historic, which in recentyears has offered a proprietary digitization system that allows perusers to viewabout 25 percent of its clips in their entirety, recently took over L.A.-based Film& Video Stock Shots to accentuate its collection with more contemporary lifestylecontent.

32 M a r k e e 2 . 0 | May/June 2013 Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

Stock Footage

[Above]

Global ImageWorks’ library includes extreme weather events

such as this wildfire.

[Below]

Historic Films offers 50,000 hours of clips, some of which are more

than 100 years old.